Cover for dining room chairs



April 15, 1941. F. E. KATZNER COVER FOR DINING ROOM CHAIRS Filed Obt. 4,1940 2 Sheets-Sheet '1 INVENTOR FPEfi E. firm/1? w ITN E85 WF QMWMMATTORNEYS April 15, 1941.

F. E. KATZNER COVER FOR DINING ROOM CHAIRS Filed Oct. 4, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESS ,4 m

INVENTOR FEE; 5. K/qrz/vfe ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 15, 1941 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE" COVER FOR DINING ROOM CHAIRS- -Fred E. Katzner,Forest Hills, N. Y., assignor to The Comfy Manufacturing 00., Baltimore,Md., a corporation of Maryland Application October 4, 1940, Serial No.359,675

3 Claims. (01. 155-182) This invention relates to covers for dining roomchairs, particularly that class of dining room chairs the seats whereofare covered with upholstery, either of woven material, leather,imitation leather, or the like, such seats, particularly that portioncovered by the fabric, curving upward or extending above the surface ofthe chair frame which supports the seat.

The fabric covernigs of dining room chair seats, particularly such asare made of woven materials, are subject to wear, causing fraying of thematerial and are also subject to soiling, both of which factors haveheretofore required reupholstering of the seats. Such reuph-olsteringisnot only expensive but requires a person skilled in such work inasmuchas the seat must often be removed; the reupholstering material must becut to fit the removed seat and drawn with care over the seat so as toconform thereto, the edges folded or turned to pass around the chaircorners, and then secured in position by tacking or other securingmeans, and the seat replaced.

Housekeepers aredisposed :to recover dining room chairs because of thedesire to change the color scheme of a room,- or because the housekeeperhas tired of the original coverings on the chairs, and this inventionreadily lends itself to this purpose. Dining room chairs are made withseats of slightly varying size and contour and this invention can beutilized with such difierent type chair seats inasmuch as thematerial-of the chair seat of this invention applicable to the ordinarychair is sufliciently flexible to accom-mo date the varying contours ofordinary dining room chairs and the same is true with respect to thecover for the master chairs.

This invention provides'a cover which is serviceable for the purposeshereinabove set forth, inexpensive to manufacture, readily appliable bythe housekeeper, fits smoothly, can be made in various color schemes andconforms closely to the frame of the seat and the frame of the chair. Itis unnecessary in applying the cover of this invention toremove any partof the seat or to use any tools whatsoever in applying and securing thecover in place.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the front of anordinary chair; Fig. 2a sectional plan view approximately on the line2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a sectional'view on the line 3- -3 of Fig. 1; Fig.4 a plan view of a blank from which the seat cover is formed; Fig. 5 isa view of the seat cover, inverted in respect of the blank of Fig. 4, inits gathered 'and'fulled condition;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the front of a master chair; Fig. Tis asectional plan view approximately on the line 1-1 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is asectional view, on the line .88 of Fig. 6; Fig. 9 is a plan view of ablank from which the seat cover for the master chair is formed; and Fig.10 is a view of the seat cover inverted in respect of the blank of Fig.9 in its. gathered and fulled condition. p

A set of dining room chairs usually comprises five ordinary chairsgenerally of the type shown in Fig. 1 and a master chair (slightlylarger than the ordinary chair and with side arms) as shown in. Fig. 6.The seat cover I is formed from a single piece of a flat webof materialinherently stretchable in two directions such, for instance, as knittedmaterial formed in the web or other elastic or inherently stretchablematerial illustrated, for instance, by materials having incorporatedtherein strands of elastic threadswhich provide stretch. The seat coverof this invention is stretchable and tends to return to its normalconfiguration and size when tension or pull is entirely released.Consequently, when stretched over a seat and its frame or support, suchseat covers, inasmuch as they are not per mitted to entirely relax,remain taut and conform to the seat and its frame when fitted andsecured as hereinafter explained.

The seat covers 'I are cut in large numbers from superposed webs ofelastic or stretchable materials, while lying flat, to a specialconformation, illustrated in 'Fig. 4 (for ordinary chairs) and in Fig. 9(for master chairs). Each resultant blank 2 is flat as itis formed onthe cutting table. Such blanks are cut considerably oversize withrespect to the chair seat to which it is applicable and with a perimetercomprising a series of simple cuts, illustrated in Figs. 4 and 9.Referring to Fig. 4, the edge 3 of the blank and the material lyingimmediately in back of. it covers the front of the chair; the diagonaledges 4 and 5 and the material lying immediately in back thereof coverrespectively the right and left legs and corners of the chair; thestraight edges 6 and l and the material lying immediately in backthereof cover respectively the right and left sides of the chair; thearc-shaped edgeslll and 9 accommodate the sides and outer edgesof theback of the chair and the arc-shaped edge It will be observed that thetwo;

halves of the blank lying on both sides of a longitudinal median lineare substantially alike and inasmuch as the two halves of the chair arealike the blank, when converted, by wholly mechanical means, into a seatcover, will be selfcentering and self-adjusting, as will be hereinafterexplained.

The blank 2, after being cut to shape as above explained, is thencontracted, in order to diminish its normal size, and to distributetheexcess material, resulting from the diminshment of its size, into aseries of gathers or puckers ll along the edges of the blank andfullness I! or bulging of the material inside of the edges. Thisreduct-ion of the size of the blank is accomplished by sewing a sectionor sections of elastic tape l3, while under tension, completely aroundthe edge of the blank with overlook or other stitches M. The outer edgeof the elastic tape 13 is laid substantially flush with the raw outeredge of the blank 2, while the tape is under tension, and the edge ofthe blank to which the tape is being applied is substantially fiat butnot necessarily under any substantial stretch or tension and theoverlook stitches are then formed on a suitable sewing machine. For thispurpose the portion of the tape applied to a particular edge of theblank 2 is shorter than the length of the edge in order that when thetape is stretched it should equal the length of the edge to which it isapplied. Each edge of the blank is therefore under separate tension ofits particular associated section of elastic tape and when the elastictape relaxes the gathers H form along the edges and at the same time theexcess material is thrown inside of the edges to form the fullness l2.The blank withthe elastic applied thereto is shown with the insideexposed in Fig. 5. Suitable fastening means are formed at the corners ormeeting points of each of the edges 3 to If]. These fastening means maybe in the form of inter-engaging snap fasteners cooperating in pairs.The snap fastener element and its companion l6 are secured at the endsof the edge 4, preferably with the recess of the member l5 extendinginwardly and facing outwardly and the projection of the member I6extending outwardly, as shown in Fig. 5. Corresponding pairs of snapfasteners are located, as explained, in each of the other corners, allas shown in Fig. 5, with the recess of the female members extendinginwardly and the projection of the male members extending outwardly. v

Hooks and eyes, or other cooperating fastening means, may be used inplace of the snap fasteners.

The seat cover is complete, as heretofore explained and as illustratedin Fig. 5, and is in this form readily adaptable for application to achair, as shown in Fig. 1. It is to be observed that the blank2- isnormally larger in area and, in contour, irregular with respect to theseat, per se, of the chair; and the seat cover, in its gathered andfulled condition, as shown in Fig. 5, is smaller in area and also ofirregular contour with respect to the seat per se. The method ofapplying the seat cover I to a chair is as follows:

The seat cover I is laid upon the chair and the edge 4 is drawn aroundthe right front leg I! of the chair (as shown at Hi), the snap fastenersl5 and I6 being interengaged at the back inside corner of the chair legand at the under side of the seat. This operation anchors one corner ofthe seat cover at the front of the chair; it is preferred then that theedge 5 is next drawn around the left front leg [9 of the chair, as shownat 20, and the companion snap fasteners are interengaged. In the courseof securing the edge 5 to the leg l9, it is necessary to stretch theelastic extending along the edges 3, 4, and 5 and also to stretch thestretchable material from which the seat cover is made, thereby puttingboth the elastic and the material of the seat cover under tension.Thereafter the edge 9 is drawn around the inside of the leg 2| and thecompanion fastening members interengaged and the edge 8 is drawn aroundthe leg 22 and the companion fastening members interengaged. In eachinstance, involving the passage of an edge of the seat cover in relationto the leg of the chair, the elastic tape [3 and the elastic materialare stretched, thereby putting the tape and the elastic material of theseat cover under tension at all parts thereof. Inasmuch as the materialof the seat cover is elastic, whether made of knitted material orwhether it contains rubber threads, the tension under which the seatcover material and the elastic tapes are put causes close conformationof the elastic material and the elastic tape to the parts of the chairwhich they engage. It will thus be seen that the initially flat blank 2is first converted into an irregularly gathered condition orconfiguration, as shown in Fig. 5, and when applied to a chair, asillustrated. it is not again converted into the flat condition, from thegathered condition of Fig. 5, but to a conformation conforming exactlyto the seat, side edges, the upper portion of the legs and the underside of the seat, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings. It isto be especially noted that the conformation of theseat cover is in allparticulars in con formity to the portions of the :chair with which itengages, which can be readily observed from Fig. 1, particularly inconnection with such details as the close relation to the outer edges ofthe chair and the encirclement of the legs I! and I9. No fastening meansare observable when the chair is in use, all being concealed at theunder side of the chair as shown in Fig. 3. A constant tension isapplied to the observable portions of the seat cover by theinterconnection of the numerous sections of elastic tape l3 on the underside of the lchair, as shown in Fig. 3.

Dining room chairs of the type to which this invention is applicable,usually have some resiliency in the seat, sometimes being supported bysprings and at other times by stufiing. When weight is applied to theseat, there is a reserve of stretch in the elastic material of the coverwhich permits the material of the seat cover to stretch correspondinglyto the depression of the chair seat and when the weight or pressure isremoved from the seat the material of the seat cover will contract.Knitted or elastic materials have a tendency to cling, when undertension, to the material with which it is in engagement and consequentlythere will be practically no shifting of the seat cover with respect tothe seat and the chair, compensation for pressure or deformation of theseat cover being taken up by the elasticity or stretchability of thematerial of the seat cover.

Figs. 6 to 10 inclusive illustrate a seat cover fora master chair.Inasmuch as the master chair is slightly larger than the ordinary chairof Fig. 1, the blank of the seat cover is made larger accordingly andnotches 25 and 25 are formed in the sides of the blank to pass aroundthe side arms 23-24. Fastening means are provided at the two outer edgesof the notches 25 and 26 in order to secure the edges of the notchesbeneath the chair and in engagement with the upstanding portions of thearms 2324.

The elastic tapes l3, when the pairs of fastener elements I5l6 aresecured together, are interconnected as shown in Figs. 3 and 8 ingeneral rectangular configuration, with diverging sections embracing thefront legs of the chairs, anchoring the cover around the front legs andother diverging sections being anchored to the rear legs of the ordinarychair (Fig. 3) and the rear legs and arms 2324 of the master chair.Whatever strain or pull is transmitted to the elastic tapes I3 isreadily distributed around the entire system of the interconnectedelastic members. 1 I 1; l

said blank having gathering along the inside of I" said stretchablematerial, and fullness throughout the inside portion, said stretchablematerial normally tending to retain the seat cover in contractedrelation with respect to its condition as a blank, fastening elements onthe seat cover,

said cover being readily stretchable over the seat portion of anordinary upholstered dining room chair, conforming to the contourthereof and to the member forming the chair seat frame,

said fastening elements being fastened beneath said seat, unitingseveral sections of said stretchable material together.

2. A dining room chair having an upholstered seat and a chair framesurrounding said seat, a separable cover for said chair, said coverbeing formed from a flat blank of material having a two directionablestretch, said blank being bound at its edges with elastic materialstitched to the edges of said blank while the elastic material is undertension, said elastic material when re-- laxed tending to draw thematerial of the blank together at the edges to form gathers along saidedges, the inner portion of said seat cover covering the chair seat,corner portions of the cover passing beneath the chair frame inproximity to the four chair legs, and portions of the cover between saidcorner portions passing beneath the chair frame, the elastic bindingbordering the front, side and rear edges being connected together toform a resilient border, the elastic binding associated with the edgesconnecting the front and side edges encompassing the front legs of thechair in the vicinity of the top thereof, other portions of said elasticbinding being secured to the rear legs of the chair.

3. In a dining room chair of the type described in claim 2, in which thechair is provided with side arms and the chair cover is provided withnotches, said notches having cooperating fastener elements securedthereto, said notches being adapted to fit around the upstanding membersof the side arms and to be secured around the same, the fastenerelements of each cooperating set being interengaged beneath the chairseat.

FRED E. KAT'ZNER.

